Known for its capital challenge grants, which have supported the building of universities, hospitals, museums, community centers and more, the organization has spent recent years expanding equity and opportunity in America’s cities by investing in arts and culture, higher education, environmental stewardship, health, human services and community development. 

This event celebrates a century of Kresge’s achievements and looks to its future of making progress possible as Detroit PBS presents “Kresge at 100,” which premieres on Friday, June 21 @ 8 p.m. on Detroit PBS. It includes a very special appearance by former President, the Hon. Barack Obama, who sits down with Kresge President and CEO Rip Rapson for a fireside chat. This event was held at the Detroit Institute of Arts.

Detroit PBS’ Satori Shakoor, host of “Detroit Performs: Live from Marygrove,” founder of The Secret Society of Twisted Storytellers and a 2017 Kresge Artist Fellow herself, emcees the extravaganza. Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan and The Kresge Foundation Board of Trustees Chair Cecilia Muñoz deliver remarks about Kresge’s extensive work and its far-reaching impact. Afterwards, there will be an airing of the film, “An American Philanthropy: Kresge’s 100 Years of Service,” which chronicles the history and stories of The Kresge Foundation’s century of grantmaking. 

The "Kresge at 100" event showcases our essential role as a trusted media partner in Detroit, and our strong relationship with The Kresge Foundation exemplifies the trust that highly regarded organizations place in us.

One of America’s greatest contributions to humankind is its culture of philanthropy, and The Kresge Foundation is a chief example of an organization that recognizes its civic responsibility to give back to those communities in which it thrived.  

The Foundation was established in Detroit by Sebastian Spering Kresge, whose retail empire, the S.S. Kresge Co., brought low-priced goods to the masses through five-and-dime stores and later Kmart. Like those stores, the organization was laser-focused on the lives of average people in its work: people who aspired to get an education, improve their communities, practice the arts, advance racial equity and access opportunities. 

The Kresge Foundation has worked to expand equity and opportunities in America’s cities through grantmaking and social investment in Detroit, Memphis, New Orleans and Fresno. In collaboration with its partners, it has helped create pathways for people with low incomes to improve their life circumstances. 

Since it was established over a century ago, The Kresge Foundation has distributed more than $5.1 billion to over 16,500 grantees, touching innumerable lives. 

Here in Detroit, The Kresge Foundation has generously supported the Detroit Institute of Arts and many other organizations. Kresge’s support has underscored the DIA’s crucial role shaping the cultural identity of Detroit and has contributed to the vitality and evolution of the entire region. For example, Kresge has sponsored the Detroit Industry Murals by Diego Rivera in the Kresge Court, along with the Detroit Arts Support program and assumed a leading role in the 2014 “Grand Bargain,” which secured the DIA’s art collection in perpetuity.  

Under Rip Rapson’s leadership, the organization has been instrumental in changing the trajectory of Detroit, by immersing itself in diverse areas such as urban planning, transportation, capital formation, leadership development, neighborhood revitalization, the arts and early childhood education, among others. Some of these Kresge-funded projects include the transformation of the Marygrove campus in Detroit into a cradle-to-career educational hub, Detroit’s Midtown Woodward Corridor and more recent work advancing the just energy transition through the adoption of solar in low-income communities.